Game Camera

[Sew Sille]

I just got a Moultrie Game Spy M-80. Got talked into this over the Bushnell Trophy Bythe store clerk. Put it out about 6:00 PM Oct19, Snday Oct 23 Had about 100 pictures on it. didnt look at the batterys so dont know how much charge they had. Went back out there Thursday Oct 27. The camera would not do any thing.  Batterys dead. Took camera up , put in new battersy, looked at battery indacator said New Batterys were 93% ?  New Energiser? Went back out Sunday Oct 30. Said had 21 pictures on camer, batterys were 53%, got to the computer put card in and only had 9 pictures on it? Any coment on this would be great. I e-mailed Moultrie 2 times havern herd back, so called then not much luck there! Thanks, Wes

[The General]

Sorry about your luck.  I have a Moultrie where the screen display went bad after 1 month.  When I called this was a known problem and they were giving out free displays but they were on back order.  I have yet to see one or hear from them.  It still works fine I just can't see the display but I would never own another one.  However mine does take 6 D batteries and I have yet to change them after 2 years with about 6 months actual use.  If it was me I'd take it back to the store and get a different one.

[Swany]

Yep, if you still have a reciept I would take it back and tell the store it is not satisfactory and let them deal with the manufacturer.

[Sew Sille]

Thats what I think I will do. Walmart told me that they would give me my money back with in 30 days if not happy! So Im ok there. It does take nice pictures day (color) Nite (black & White) But cant change batterys every week! Think I will try the Bushnell Trophy Mills Fleet has them on colse out for $150. Thanks,Wes

[ray634]

One thing that helps is to have the 12 volt batteery hookup. I have the camera batteries in to keep the time and then hook up the ice auger battery to power it. I can get 3 weeks or so from one charge depending on how many pics and how many at night.

I also had the Moultrie and had the display go out after a couple months. All i can do now is have the camera take a pic of my watch when i I change cards so I know what time the pics are taken.

Over all I think you are better off to spend a little more and get a good camera than to by cheap ones and put up with junk.

[Sew Sille]

Was on the phone with Moultrie for a few min. She said that I mite have the wrong sg card, Isaid it doesnt say to use this card or that card? said to use sandisk or lexar? That that mite make the batterys go dead faster if dont have eather card? I asked if the soler charger would keep the batterys charged?She said let me check, put me on hold, 25 min later still on hold! No one came back on the line? O well! Looks like it will go back to Walmart!

[Swany]

Wrong SD card...um, never heard that one before. 
I have a Bushnell Trophy Cam and I had it take over 7K pictures before the batteries went dead. That was over a couple month period as well.
Granted, with the colder temps, that doesn't help battery life, but I would feel very comfortable recommending the Trophy Cams.

[Sew Sille]

went to walmart to return the moultrie and no proublum. they gave my money back. I was going to go to fleet farm but walked back to the sporting goods department and asked if they had any Trophy Cams left( they had a hole shelf when  I was there before) he said no, as I was walking away he said wate a min. had one left. i said how much? He skanded it and said $99.00 . WOW! hope it works like they say. 2 Year warrenty and a extended 2year for $6..00. cant go wrong!

[Onin24Eagle]

I have 2 of the Moultrie M-80's and I'm not particularly fond of them.  The pictures are blurry and one of them had issues with battery life with the first set of batteries (they were dead after about 2 weeks) but no problems with that since.  What I really don't like is the picture quality.  Very blurry if the deer are moving even slightly.

As much as I don't like them, they are not at the bottom of my list.  I have a Cuddeback Capture that absolutely stinks.  I made a mock scrape a few weeks ago and put that camera looking directly at it from 10 feet away.  Came back to check it a week later and saw deer tracks on my mock scrape.....no pictures except the one of me checking the camera.  I've always wondered about this one as no matter where I put it I never get many pics off of it.  For a while I chalked it up to bad selection of location but over time I've become convinced that it won't take a picture unless the deer is break-dancing in front of it.

I have 2 Stealth Cams that work most of the time.  Problem with these is that occasionally you go home to check the pictures and the stupid card is corrupt.  This just happened to me today as I went out to check cameras one last time before rifle opener.  28 pics on the card and when I put it in the computer it says "you must format this card before you can use it".  When I try it in my digital camera I get a message that says "card not initialized".  Bummer.  Had this over a scrape that's been showing a lot of activity. 

My other cameras are all great.  I've got an older Cuddeback flash model (not an IR).  It's so old it takes the big giant compact flash cards that are like 5x the size of an SD card.  Pictures are awesome and always in color, even at night.  Even though it uses a flash it doesn't seem to bother the deer.  I also have a Spypoint G4 that's pretty good.  Battery life on this one is awesome.  It takes 6 AA's and I first put it out toward the end of August.  Battery life was 92% when I checked it this evening.  It's taken several hundred pics so far.  Only downside to this is the night pics are a touch blurry, but nowhere near as bad as the Moultries.

The last one I have is a Primos Truth Cam 35.  I think this might actually be my favorite of them all.  I had issues with it spooking deer at first and read that there was a slightly audible "clunk" noise that scared game away.  I could hear the clunk, but I also noticed that the red and green lights would flash on and off every time it took a picture.  I covered each of the lights with a 1/2" square piece of duct tape and I haven't seen a single deer spook since then.  Trigger time is outstanding, and it has a really good detection range.  Only downside here is that the IR flash could be better but it's a 35, not a 46 or 60.  I'm sure the other models have a longer flash range at night.  This one also has slightly blurry night pics but is soooooooo much better than the Moultries.  I wish I had bought 3 more of these instead of the 2 M-80's.

Haven't tried the Bushnells.  Not sure if I will either.  Next cam will likely be another Primos or Spypoint.

[Sew Sille]

I set the bushnell up in record time. Was the easyest camera I have set up to date. Going to look at the pictures Thursday nite.

[naturalistmn]

I have several of the M-80's and LOVE them.   Size, picture quality, battery life, and cost are hard to beat.   For just over $100 I don't think you can find one better.   Fast movements are a bit blurred, but again, these pics are for scouting purposes.   I'm not framing them and for how affordable they are, you can get a pair of them for what most others that do the same cost.   As far as battery life goes, super awesome.   I bought the cheapest AA's I could find to see how long they would last.   That was back in July and I'm still at 45%.   I've been running video mode the last month so that burns up even more juice.   I have to give the M-80's props!

[Sew Sille]

I dont know why the batters lasted less than a week with only 100 pictures? It was on single picture mode not burst Moultrie finly got back to my e-mail but did not ancer a question I had?We will see how the bushnell works. So far i havent got many pictures, but I havent got many on my other camer eather.

[cassiezhu]

I'm a  hunting outfitteroperator.I have few brands of hunting cams, of cause include Moultrie cams.....until now,every one is good.except 2 with some problem of the SD card clip.so it's good